I Think I'll Stay Awhile
by PiperBlue
Summary: Just a short O/S written for Bonnie!Empire Harem Week 2014 Day 7: Let Family Ring. Can you let go of the worst pain life could possibly throw at you and start over... Can you be open to something new? Rated T for mentions of tragic death, and a swear word.


When Jackson Teller learned his mother Gemma killed his wife, he swore to her she would never see him or his sons ever again. Gemma was having none of that. She was still fairly off balance and out of her mind after learning she was wrong about Tara, that she wasn't leaving, that Tara and Jax had chosen to stay together and work on their marriage. One afternoon when Gemma wasn't working, Jax took the boys to Teller-Morrow Automotive. Gemma happened to swing by the garage, saw the boys, and made a rash decision. She grabbed Abel and Thomas and took off.

When Jax found out he set off to try and find them. A few hours into his search he received a call from the new sheriff telling him there had been a really bad accident. His mother and his boys were gone. Three days later Jax buried his sons next to their mother, his brother, and his father. He spent every day of the whole next week in the cemetery thinking and writing in his journal and made the decision to leave Charming. He just couldn't stay in this place where he'd lost everything. His whole family was gone, his best friend was gone. There was nothing holding him there. Not even the club was enough to keep him anymore.

He visited the cemetery one last time to say goodbye and to apologize to those he loved for his failings.

Before he left he placed his "Redwood Original" patch on top of his father's headstone.

Jax hit the road. He needed to be far away from the place he called home his entire life. He set out to cross the country, to try to let go of the pain, but ended up fucking, fighting, and drinking the whole way.

Three weeks into his trip and less than half a day's ride to the coast, he rode into a small Virginia town called Mystic Falls. Little did he know his life was about to change.

Bonnie Bennett was on her way into The Grill and she noticed an unfamiliar vehicle out front. It was a motorcycle, an even nicer one than Stefan's. She walked in and immediately spotted Matt behind the bar, she called out to him and headed over.

Jax sat at the bar drowning his feelings in whiskey and waiting for oblivion to overtake him before heading to his motel for the night. It was then that he heard a voice that cut through the darkness of his heart and the cloudiness of his mind. The voice got closer as she stepped up to the bar on his left. He warred with his unconscious about looking up, to see the woman whose voice he found so captivating. Thoughts of Tara and what she would think about his behavior over the last several weeks ran through his brain like a high speed train, when he heard her voice like she was standing just to his right.

"You have to let us go, Jax. Wallowing in pain isn't going to make anything that happened right. I love you. The boys love you. And we want you to live and be happy. I need you to be happy. Let go."

As Tara's voice faded, he glanced up to his left and saw the most beautiful smile that he'd ever seen. Even prettier than Tara's. The thought of Tara smiling and smacking his arm for thinking that flashed in his head and he smiled. Actually smiled. His first in far too long.

Jax looked back down at the whiskey he swirled in his glass, "Okay Tara…" he thought, "Okay. I love you."

Jax waited for a lull in the conversation between this woman and the bartender, and when the guy went to take someone else's order, he turned toward her and said "Hi."

"Hi." She replied with that brilliant smile that seemed to shine light on the darkest parts inside of him.

"I'm Jax, I'm new in town."

"Bonnie, life long resident. That your bike out front?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I've never seen it before, it's the only one out front, you have that "badass" vibe about you, and the motorcycle club vest is kinda a giveaway. So, you staying for a while or just passing through?"

"I, uh… I think I'm gonna stay for a while." He said with a genuine smile and feeling like this was the first good choice he'd made for quite some time.

Five years later, Jax is still in Mystic Falls. He settled in and started an SoA chapter there, following his father's ideas of how the MC should run. He eventually married Bonnie, and they have two beautiful daughters and a newborn son. He thinks of his first family everyday and tells his girls often about their brothers, only he can now talk about them without it crushing his soul.

His heart is full, his spirit fulfilled, and having learned the lessons of his life before, he strives to be a better man than he used to be. In doing so, he's never been more satisfied and at peace with living.


End file.
